


Hydrangea

by Yotsubadancesintherain5



Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brother-Sister Relationships, Canon-Typical Violence, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:42:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29925339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yotsubadancesintherain5/pseuds/Yotsubadancesintherain5
Summary: It was in Mono's nature to protect the small and the weak. He'll soon learn that Six may be small but she doesn't want to be weak.
Relationships: Mono & Six (Little Nightmares)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 90





	1. Daffodil

**Author's Note:**

> There, you'll be much warmer now.

The skulls of the merciless school children cracked easily under the hammer and Mono pressed onward down the hallway, wary of the lockers. His mind was running on a loop, _save Six_ , and it had been consuming him since she got dragged off by these hellions.

He in turn gave them no mercy, befit for their unscrupulous natures. In this sort of world children – real, breathing children – didn’t get as tall as him if they didn’t fight back down to skin gnashed away with teeth. He would stand tall for Six, and he continued with his rescue.

Mono was nearing a restroom, the wake of his destruction evident in the shattered porcelain heads and bodies that littered the school floor behind him. He was wary of the final trap and immediately set to crush the heads of the two porcelain bullies that strung Six up from the ceiling.

Mono struck at the board that held it in place and realized too late that it was going to roughly send Six to the ground. He tried in vain to grab the rope and flinched at the sound of the impact of Six’s head hitting the floor.

Mono hurried to her and his heart jumped in his throat and his thoughts ran wild and frantic when Six didn’t get up – that those children already killed her, the fall killed her, it was his fault for not coming sooner or running forward with only one solution – but she lifted herself up. Relief surged through Mono, almost painfully.

At first Six recoiled from him, perhaps not recognizing him in her dazed state. Mono saw the familiar then; that he was once small and weak too, and though their friendship was new he wished they could carve out a home somewhere safe from everything.

An idle phrase repeated in his mind as he reached out to her, _home is where the heart is_ , and if nowhere was safe then home was only in his chest.

His musings were interrupted because Six grasped his hand and he pulled her up. He checked her head and walked with her for a moment to make sure that she could walk on her own.

But it didn’t end there because he kept hold of her hand until it was not possible, like when he had to send a piano crashing through the floor, climb outside to smash a bully’s skull in and grab a key. Mono noticed Six watching him kill the porcelain bully and thought it was good. She knew how much he was willing to protect her.

But in the next room they spotted a bully crouched on the floor, drawing with chalk and muttering softly. Mono spotted a hammer, motioned for Six to stay where she was and crept quietly to the hammer.

Mono got his hands around the hammer and heard the bully cry out and fear turned to panicked confusion when he saw that Six had wrapped her hands around the bully’s neck. She slammed its head against the floor until it broke into pieces.

A wave of shock crashed into Mono and he dropped the hammer. When the wave subsided he wondered if it was so different from him caving in their heads without mercy.

Mono realized that perhaps he thought of Six as a fragile thing because she was so small. It had been his compulsion to grab her hand, keep her nearby and safe.

It was what he wanted but maybe that sort of protection wasn’t what she needed. Mono decided then to only offer his hand to Six.

He did so when she walked to him and she didn’t take his hand. Mono pushed down his dejection and led the way.

When they climbed up the stairs and up the bookshelf through the vent where the teacher was playing the piano that same compulsion bloomed but Mono stomped it down.

He kept his nerves steady as he crept to the lever and let the platform lower down, in tandem with the teacher’s piano playing. He held his breath as he pushed the cart over to the bookshelf and joined Six by the vent.

They opened the vent and it was too loud and the teacher slammed her hands down on the piano and shrieked. They climbed into the vent quickly, pushed against the grate and in one heart-stopping moment the teacher shoved her head through the vent.

The teacher slithered after them in the vent and her screams of rage echoed through the vent. Mono felt his panic rising as he crept through the vent, too cramped to properly run, and his body propelled forward when the vent gave way and he leapt across the gap to grasp at Six’s waiting hand.

They fell apart almost immediately, Six falling back so that they fell down a slanted roof and landed in a dumpster. It was a relief when the teacher gave up the chase and did not follow them, her neck’s retracting noise the indication that she was gone. The only sound was the rain pouring down on the ruined city.

Six climbed out first and waited for Mono. He led the way, silently lamenting that his paper bag hat had just gotten dry.

He startled when a strange noise, almost like singing, carried through the air. He turned around and saw Six with her arm around her midsection.

She was humming and the sound rattled in her chest, like her lungs and ribs were disjointed. It seemed to be a way of self-comfort, something fleeting in their lives.

Mono thought that he could extend some protection; he unbuttoned his coat and held it out to her. Six took the coat and draped it over herself. Mono knew the torrent would be more bearable with his coat.

He led the way again, his body warmed by his determination, and he only stopped when they climbed a ledge and he saw a small, yellow raincoat lying on the ground.

Six let the coat fall on his shoulders and hurried to take the raincoat. It fit her perfectly, like it was waiting for her.

Relief wove its way into Mono’s heart; that she could fight off the rain better now. He buttoned up his coat and saw a mattress that was safe from the rain. It seemed like a good place to catch their breath.

He sat on the mattress and looked up at the grey sky through the hole in the ceiling. Six settled down beside him and she took his hand.

Mono’s shoulders hunched up in surprise for just a moment but he closed his hand over hers and took in the rare peaceful moment.

Home couldn’t be anywhere or it was set in Mono’s chest but in that moment he thought it could be found in their joined hands.


	2. Gladiolus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Better safe than sorry.

The taste of ashes was still in Mono’s mouth as the elevator climbed upward. Even as this part of the hospital slowly disappeared out of sight he could still hear the doctor pounding on the door of the crematorium oven. Mono had the dark wish that the doctor would rot there.

He glanced over at Six who seemed none worse for wear after that ordeal and his shoulders slacked. His fingers drummed against his coat instead of grabbing for her hand.

The elevator opened and the only sound was the rain outside. Mono could feel the dryness of his mouth from the residual ashes and disregarded the rainwater. If desperation gripped them he would drink it but he had to see if there were cleaner options for them first.

When they came across a lobby Mono stayed still for just a moment and Six followed his lead. When he moved forward and realized that the mannequins in the chairs were frozen he breathed out. He noticed a vending machine and ran to pull down the switch.

A can popped out and a second one followed. Mono let Six choose the one she wanted; she took the silver can.

Mono carried the red can to the chairs and threw it up into a chair. He got Six situated so that she could sit comfortably with her own can. He popped the tab and heard Six do the same.

Mono lifted up his paper bag just a bit so that he could drink. The soda was warm and flat but the can was secure so he drank without reservation.

Mono wiped his mouth after a long drink and could see Six do the same. He tapped his finger to his chin and Six was a mirror image. He lifted the can to drink again just to be sure. When she copied him again Mono stuck his tongue out at Six and had to stop himself from smiling when she stuck out her tongue.

Mono swished the liquid around in his mouth as he thought that he must have made a strange companion. The televisions scrambled his head painfully and the only way to stop it was to tune the transmission and ease into the path it presented. The door in those televisions called to him, and for what reason he did not know. Sometimes it felt as though a great power was sleeping within him, but it happened so infrequently that he did not want to put his full trust into that apparently latent power.

Mono thought of the static remains throughout this world, lost souls that twitched and convulsed as he got close, a buzz that dissipated when he absorbed them. It felt like he was trying to keep them safe in his half-embrace, but perhaps the remains pushing under his skin and disappearing meant that the children that left them were no longer alive.

Mono took at glance at Six and had to concede that sometimes she was an odd companion too. When they first met she had been so enraptured with her music box that she did not respond at all to his calls, his warnings that he was going to break down the door.

When he got the light bulb and stumbled upon her cracking the fingers of the mannequin hand he was aghast. From his experience that hand would never let her get that close to break its fingers, so he was glad that she got to see firsthand that to kill them she would have to smash them with a hammer.

In turn the memory of her killing that bully didn’t bring forth shock – just apprehension, a wish that someday she would be strong enough to carry a weapon. He thought of how her head slammed against the floor when he cut her down and worry bloomed in his chest.

Mono set his drink aside and motioned to Six, miming taking off her raincoat hood. She complied but her face was tainted with confusion. Mono mimed running his hands down her hair. Six nodded but she folded up her arms and made a sour face, like she trusted him but didn’t want to leave her face uncovered even if it was just the two of them.

Mono checked her head quicker than he would have liked but didn’t see any bumps on her head in the rudimentary check. He drew back and let her draw her hood up. He gently patted her shoulder as thanks.

Six childishly flipped his paper bag off his head. It was in her hands and through his shock he could see her mouth curve up into a triumphant smile. But when she got a good look at his face she seemed to realize that she crossed a line.

Six put the paper bag back on Mono’s head and with a rare show of affection she patted his shoulder.

Mono forgave her then and drank the rest of his drink.

When Six’s can was empty he gestured throwing it and an improvised competition occurred. Six’s can only went further than Mono’s can because it rolled ahead.

They left the hospital and continued through the city. Mono’s heart would jump if he heard the heavy impact of bodies falling against the pavement but he kept his stride. He was wary of viewers as they entered a building and went up the stairs.

When they got to the top and walked through the doorway Mono stopped when a viewer fell from the ceiling; it crackled with displeasure at having nothing to stare at and thundered out of the room. Mono heard it smash its head into a television, the pungent electrical smell in the air.

Six gave the corpse a kick as Mono climbed up to the window.

They continued on through the ruined houses until they came across an elevator. Six went first, bold in her jumps until she got to the ledge. She looked over the gap between the ledge and the elevator, the side of it open, and only jumped when Mono went across first.

She didn’t follow him when the elevator went up and he jumped across to the upper ledge. He landed painfully on the stone and took a minute to breathe out harshly. He got to work on freeing Six from the elevator.

When he got her out of the locked elevator she grabbed both of his arms. Mono tilted his head and it took her looking him over to realize that she was checking to see that he wasn’t hurt. She was evidently satisfied and helped him pull the lever to make the elevator go up. She beckoned him to jump and they did so at the same time. Mono smiled at their synchronicity.

The good feeling was torn out of his chest when they were outside and the tower was in view. A wave of nausea crashed into him, a faint buzzing in his ears, made him run until the tower was out of his sight. Six caught up with him and didn’t give any questions.

They continued on with their routine when there was a gap between the roof they were on and a balcony that was going to be their new path. Mono helped Six across and she knelt at the edge of the balcony, her hand outstretched.

Mono stepped back to get a running start and he jumped. He had a shock of fear that he would pull her down with him but she got him on the balcony and the climb upward began.

At the top of the balconies they climbed in through a window and Mono could hear the roof creak. He walked cautiously and they climbed into the next room.

The roof groaned and the rain upon the rotted wood was too much. The roof was beginning to cave in. Mono and Six ran, the destruction of the roof behind them, they pushed against a door and fell, couldn’t get up fast enough, they had to keep running, Mono tried to jump the gap but it was too wide and he fell through the floor as everything collapsed.

He woke up to the smell of rotted wood and dirty water, and was lucky that nothing pinned him down. He got up and looked about and was frantic when he saw Six.

She was trapped between two floorboards, and a couch was on top of the first floorboard, and it creaked. It would crush her if she stayed there. Six was breathing fast with fear and pain.

Mono ran to pull her out, his mind screaming that she had to be okay, and his heart was lanced with an impossible amount of relief when he pulled her free.

Six got up, with no visible injuries on her body, but didn’t complain when Mono looked her over. It seemed to be routine for them now.

He watched her walk and briefly wondered about internal injuries but eased up when it seemed Six was truly unharmed. He was still extra careful when Six boosted him up to the door knob to open it up.

They walked down the hallway and Mono barely glanced at the television in the nearby room before it gripped him in its usual buzzing, it hummed to him and made his thoughts only think of soothing the pain by touching the screen and easing into the transmission.

Mono ran down that hallway, his limbs and motions heavy, he opened the door and felt so _wrong_ when it slowly swung open.

He couldn’t register Six pulling him out of the television or her silent pleading for him to run, the television’s transmission was like a drill was grinding against his brain and Six only ran when _something_ started to push through the television’s screen.

Mono ran then, his body nearly close enough for the Thin Man to grab as he slowly stalked through the room.

Mono followed Six into another room and ran under the bed. His heart hammered in his ears, he bit down his alarm, because Six was hiding under the table and anyone could see her.

He could see the panic in her movements, how she stumbled to get away and she was in plain view of the Thin Man. She reached her hand out to Mono but that head-splitting feeling returned and it only left when the Thin Man grabbed Six and disappeared. All that remained of her was a static afterimage, like so many Mono had taken into his arms.

Her scream echoed in Mono’s head and he was flooded with anger and he was going to take her back.

Mono ran, pushed himself through the television to find the way to the tower and didn’t stop for anything. He soon found a remote and felt power in its hefty weight. It wasn’t something he had much of, and so it was a blessing. His journey became a blur in the wake of his determination.

The only moment in which he stopped to think was when he climbed into a grocery store. It was flooded at the lower floor and electricity danced in the water dangerously. Mono thought that when he rescued Six they could stay there.

They could live in the nearby bedroom, turn on the switch to the electricity when they slept, and eat whatever salvageable food was available to them in this store. It wouldn’t be forever, but just long enough that they both could grow a little taller.

Hope was a fragile thing and it was trying to live in Mono’s hands as he mapped out a potential life for them.

He continued onward and that hope burned through every part of him when he stumbled upon a television and Six was inside, banging her fists against the glass. He grasped her hands and began to pull her out, elation rising in his heart until she was ripped out of his hands.

Mono headed to the door and broke it open with the nearby axe as the Thin Man materialized out of the television. Mono soon ran out of sight and climbed up so that he hid underneath the next floor’s floorboards.

He crept through and fell into another room. The Thin Man was never far behind and Mono escaped out the window, falling onto the roof and sliding down, roughly landing on a train’s roof. It was slanted and he fell off, desperately reaching to grab the next train’s platform.

The chase continued on these trains and Mono kept going until he came to a train car with a lever and detached the trains, evading the Thin Man’s grasp.

But the train car went too fast for Mono to jump off, the roar of the tracks making his ears ring, and the train car crashed violently.

Mono slammed against the train door so hard it felt like his bones were going to snap like twigs and he fell to the ground in a heap.

Mono brokenly got up, his right arm hanging loosely and though he could move it and make a fist with his hand it sent hot pain through his body.

He saw the static remains of Six on the tracks, pointing the way and despite every pain that shot through his body he ran. He nearly stumbled when he saw the remains of Six at the end of the line, crouched at a ledge and watching him.

Mono ran to the flickering figure, climbing up as quickly as he could and he grabbed Six’s static shadow and he tried to hold it like it would be solid and Six would be in his embrace and by his side.

Mono never felt so cold when it was out of sight and he could feel that familiar buzz go through his head and dissipate.

Painful explanations ran through his head. Maybe Six was more injured by that cave-in than either of them thought or that infernal tower consumed her or the Thin Man finally disposed of her but none of the hypothetical truths mattered because she was _gone_.

Mono’s tears were quiet and he put his arms around himself, like that could hold anything together.

All of his self-accusations piled up; that he should’ve broken out of the siren’s call of the televisions, and left that door alone. The one time Six needed his protection, when it mattered, he couldn’t give it to her.

He should’ve grabbed for Six’s hand but the static in the air had paralyzed him, he was afraid, and _this is why you cover your face, it’s shameful to look upon_.

Mono tried to save her but there wasn’t enough time for anyone in this merciless world. No matter how tall he got he still felt so small.

Mono reached up to wipe away his tears. He could feel the presence of the Thin Man above.

Mono walked to the nearby ladder and began to climb, the heated pain coursing through him seemingly down to the marrow in his bones. He only slipped once, grasping at the bars in a panic. His right arm cracked horribly as he forced his hand to grab the bar. He climbed slowly until he saw vents.

The rain cascaded through the vents, a premonition of the storm ahead. Mono climbed out and stared at the tower with everything good and brave in him.

When the Thin Man materialized into view Mono bit the inside of his lips until blood burst out and coated his tongue.

He had nothing left to lose and so he took off his paper bag and let the rain wash it away.

He realized then what was sleeping within him, and Mono drew upon it with abandon, calling it through every vein in his body, a crackle that grew and grew when he called forth every hopeless memory, the anger at the monsters that roamed this world and trampled every innocent and vulnerable being, the brunt of that fury at this creature that stole Six away, and Mono was the only one on the front lines but he had a purpose and nothing could stop what was burning in his chest.

Power surged through his hand and he pushed the Thin Man back. The taste of electricity burned in his mouth alongside the blood and the static, coppery combination slithered down his throat.

Mono concentrated, using his power to tear the Thin Man out of existence as he tried to get close. Every ounce of Mono’s rage was in the palm of his hand.

The Thin Man was going to suffer, the storm above resonated with Mono’s hatred, and it felt as though Mono was ripping apart whatever was left of the Thin Man’s soul.

With one last pull the Thin Man dissipated into nothingness, static that was lost in the rain, and the storm continued to rage.

Mono fell to his knees, gasping, he was vulnerable and showing his face to the world, he had taken his revenge and still a great emptiness gnawed at his chest. All that he had left was himself, his hands full with his regret, and all that he could feel was the coldness that bled over every part of him.

Mono’s ears still rung, light-headed from that exertion, and when his hearing was finally clear again he could only hear the rain. He stayed there for what felt like hours, the rain running down his face.

Mono faintly heard the keys of a music box coming from the tower, the melody so familiar, bringing him back to the heady air of the woods. Hope flickered in his chest.

He got up once more and pulled himself to the tower, the buildings and street lamps at his mercy as the ground shook under his feet. He was upon the tower, and he wrenched the doors open with his power.

Mono’s mind was running on a loop of _save Six_ as he walked through the door into the warm light.


End file.
